Archibald Witwicky
Archibald Amundsen Witwicky is a human ancestor of the Witwicky family. Captain Archibald "Archie" Amundsen Witwicky,Archibald's middle name 'Amundsen' is given in the Jr. novelization of the 2007 movie. The Iceman file stolen by Frenzy in the movie itself shows the name 'Capt. Witwicky, Amundsen'. father of Clarence Witwicky, led the National Arctic Circle Expedition in 1897. Although he discovered the frozen form of Skyfire, he was unable to bring back proof and was declared insane. He spent the rest of his life in an asylum. He died August 13, 1938. Years after his death, Archibald's grandson, Jeremiah Witwicky was given a box of mementos detailing Archibald's adventures, including newspaper articles. Fearing the presence of such items would be a rejection of God in his household, Jeremiah took a very young Sparkplug out to a field where Jeremiah ordered his son to burn the godless relics. Unkown to both Jeremiah and Sparkplug, however, a few strands of Archibald's existance (a newspaper article here, an expedition itinerary there) found their way into other family boxes that were eventually inherited by Sparkplug. Archie's great-grandsons Ron and Sparkplug Witwicky have no idea he even existed, since their father refused to even discuss his "crazy grandfather." History MUX canon Archibald Witwicky was born on 2 April, 1851, to a family of Polish-Norwegian shipowners and captains in Doetinchem, Netherlands. His father was Jens Witwicky. He was the fourth son in the family. His mother chose to keep him out of the maritime industry of the family and pressured him to become a doctor, a promise that Witwicky kept until his mother died when he was aged 21, whereupon he quit university for a life at sea. Witwicky had hidden a lifelong desire inspired by Hans Nansen's voyages to the White Sea and to places in northern Russia. As a result, Witwicky decided on a life of intense exploration. With his wife, Hilda, Archibald eventually had a son they named Clarence. In 1897, Captain Archibald Witwicky led the National Arctic Circle Expedition when their ship, the Annabel Lee, became frozen in the ice. His first mate Reginald Danco noticed that their dogs were keenly interested in whatever lay beneath the frozen wastes and called Witwicky over to investigate. Despite Danco's well-founded caution in light the expedition's foul luck, Witwicky bravely dug into the ice, and what he saw underneath changed him. Discovering the frozen form of an alien robot, Witwicky called to the others, but the find was buried in an ice cave-in before any other witnesses could verify what he'd found. Witwicky brought back a relic for proof, but it was lost when the pressure of the ice broke up the ship and it and its cargo had to be abandoned. Declared insane, by 1898, Witwicky was in the Boston Secure Hospital. Witwicky spent the rest of his life in an asylum in Louisiana, raving about "giants" trapped in the northern ice. Decades after his death in 1938, Archibald's descendants Ronald and Sparkplug would have no idea he even existed, aside from some remants in a shoebox left over from Jeremiah Witwicky's purge of Archibald's heirlooms. It would be over a century after Archibald's death Ronald and Sparkplug would unknowingly verify their great-grandfather's claims. Logs *March 2013 - Digging Up Secrets: Archibald Witwicky remains either a lost figure of history, or a disgraced figure, but a critical discovery by his great-great-great grandson may change things. Notes * Archibald's middle name is a reference to Roald Amundsen, the leader of the first successful expedition to the South Pole. * Unlike the movie, Archibald found Skyfire, not Megatron, and left no plot devices to his great-great-grandson. **Or did he...? * Several articles refer to Archibald as "Dr. Witwicky." However, no record indicates a graduation from any school of higher education. In his few remaining writings, he referred to himself, when using a title, as "Captain." References Shattered Glass In the Shattered Glass universe, Archibald Witwicky was a successful stay-at-home Polish-Norwegian doctor in the Netherlands who had a prosperous and respected career, long before his family name would be ruined by his descendants. Category:1938 Category:characters Category:Dead Category:humans Category:Shattered Glass characters Archibald Witwicky